News

18/09/2012:
Top Philippines, US Officials to Speak at the Philippine Conference @ CSIS

Washington, DC September 26, 2012

PRESS RELEASE 18 September 2012 WDC-137-2012

WASHINGTON, September 18, 2012 – The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announced the participation of top officials from the Philippines and the United States at The Philippine Conference @ CSIS on Wednesday, September 26, 2012.

In a press statement, the CSIS said the Philippines will be represented by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario, Secretary of Finance Cesar Purisima and Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima. The three Cabinet officials will speak on Philippine foreign affairs and the country’s relationship with the United States, its fast growing economy and its new legal reforms and anti-corruption efforts.

The Philippine officials will be joined by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and the Pacific Mark Lippert, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Charles Collyns, and the Ambassador-at-Large to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State Luis CdeBaca.

The program will take place at the Capitol Hilton Hotel on 1001 16th Street, N.W. The speeches will be on the record and the event will be live streamed by CSIS on www.csis.org. The event is open to the media with accreditation and is on the record. CSIS and the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC are organizing the event. The US Philippine Society and the Raytheon Company are sponsors of the program.

“The timing for this discussion is vitally important. The US-Philippine relationship is one of five treaty alliances for the United States in Asia. This strategic dialogue will underline the key opportunities and challenges to taking ties to the next level,” said CSIS Southeast Asia Studies chair Ernest Bower.

Philippine Ambassador the United States Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. said: “Our partnership with the United States is at its strongest and we would like to strengthen this further. The Philippine Conference is one way of helping both our countries realize this.”

The United States and the Philippines are treaty allies. The Philippines is one of the claimants in the territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea (the Philippines has formally named waters within its exclusive economic zone as West Philippine Sea). The Philippines is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, and an important partner of the United States in the Asia Pacific.

On the economic front, the Philippines recently announced economic growth over 6 percent. The Philippine Stock Exchange has been one of the best performers in Asia this year. Important economic reforms and an active anti-corruption campaign have resulted in renewed investor confidence in the Philippine economy. ###

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